New cinema research from DCM is over-rich mixture

Some new research for UK cinema owner Digital Cinema Media (DCM) purports to show that cinema ads are eight times as effective as TV ads.

How? Well the research by Hall & Partners compared the results from two panels: an online panel asked about TV ads and another, recruited in cinema foyers, about cinema ads. Unsurprisingly the cinema-goers remembered more cinema ads than the online panel (some of whom, presumably, may never watch commercial TV) remembered TV ads.

DCM CEO Simon Rees (left, once a leading light at Carat and then CEO of Mindshare in the UK) says: “Maybe we’re stating the obvious, but the sheer impact and engagement of watching an ad on the big screen means cinema is the medium of choice when it comes to strengthening a brand, delivering key messages, increasing awareness and attracting new customers, especially amongst a desirable, hard to reach target audience.”

Nice try Simon, but back in your Carat days you’d have poured a bucket of something unpleasant over a media rep spinning such a yarn.

As ITV marketing body Thinkbox points out: going to the cinema accounts for 0.4 per cent of the average person’s media day; watching TV accounts for 48 per cent…75 per cent of the UK goes to the cinema in a year; TV reaches 93 per cent a week.

Cinema ads have their place but why do people insist on over-egging the research pudding?